Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Ask an Editor: 5 Ways to Keep an Editor from Deleting You

Getting an editor’s attention—and
keeping it all the way through a proposal—is tough. Pinpointing the
“right way” to do this is also tough. But you know what’s
pretty easy? Pinpointing the wrong
way to do something. ;-) So that’s what we’re going to cover
today—those things that will get your proposal sent to the trash
bin before an editor even opens it.

Let’s
assume you’re doing cold calls, just sending out queries to
publishers or agents you see online. Resist the urge to send out a
query that sounds like this (and for reference, this is based on
actual queries I’ve received, yes. Don’t laugh. Okay, laugh. I
did.)

Hello
Mrs. Rossana Black of WhiteBlaze Publishing,

Do you
want to publish the next bestseller? Well, I’m coming to you today
with an opportunity to do just that! My fictional novel is destined
to be the next Harry Potter
and will appeal to everyone from age 9 to 90.

The Story of a Truly Great Lady
is an epic historical fantasy love story based on a true story that
God revealed to me in a dream, in which He told me I must write this
book and that it would save souls for Him. I know you want to obey
the Lord, so please find attached the complete manuscript of Truly
Great Lady as well as three
chapters of the third book in the series, though I haven’t written
the second yet. TGL is 400,000 words and is completed. I realize this
is long, but I’m sure you’ll agree that nothing can be changed
without losing the essence of the story God Himself gave me.

Please
respond promptly, as if you don’t jump on this opportunity, I feel
certain another publisher will.

Your
Servant,

Jack
Benimble

Ahem.
Now, where do I start? Oh yeah—at the salutation.

Avoidable
#1 – Get Your Info Right

Please,
for the love of macaroni, do not misspell an editor’s name or, even
worse, send them a letter made out to someone else! Sounds basic, I
know, but it’s happened to me. Several times. Needless to say, I
didn’t request anything from those people. If you don’t know the
editor’s name, that’s okay—a “Dear Sir or Madam” works
fine, as does “To Whom it May Concern” or even “Dear
Acquisitions Editor” or “Dear WhiteFire” (in the case of my
house). But let’s note that my name is Roseanna, not Rossana.
White, not Black. And it’s Fire in my publisher’s name, not Blaze
or Rose or House. (Catch that one? White House? Tee hee hee)

Avoidable
#2 – Do Not Be Presumptuous

Again
this might sound basic, but there are a lot of people who think that
to sell their book, they have to make it out to be the best thing
ever. Resist the urge—humility goes much farther than pride. Do not
liken your book to an all-time bestseller. Do not
claim your book will be the next one. And for goodness sake, do not
make it sound as if you’re doing the publisher a favor by
submitting to them. That won’t gain you any points. And this
applies to later parts of the sample query there, too. Don’t try to
tell me this is what God wants—it may be, but that’s something we
have to decide through prayer, not just because a query tells us so.
And one of the biggest presumptions—don’t say your book is
perfect as is! It’s not, I can promise you that. We all have to
change things, and saying up front you’re unwilling to do so will
have an editor hitting that delete button before you can say, “But
it’ll make you millions!”

Avoidable
#3 – Know Your Target Audience

By
telling an editor your book will appeal to everyone, you’re
basically telling them you don’t know who you actually intend it
for. Narrow it down. This doesn’t mean people outside your target
won’t read it and like it, but you’re trying to tell the
publisher to whom they should aim their marketing. Men or women? Kids
or adults? Baby-boomers of Gen-Xers? When I submit a proposal (this
is writer-me talking), I always say it’s aimed at women, the
standard readership of 35-50, but that it will also appeal to
20somethings. This tells the publisher that it’s a romance with a
traditional readership, but that I bring a younger voice to it, so
they can market it to the new generation of adult readers.

Avoidable
#4 – Messing Up Your Book Description

I know
Stephanie has covered on here how to define your book’s genre. (Oh
wait, I think I actually guest-posted something on that, LOL.) Know
it, and know it well. Don’t ever, ever call it a “fictional
novel.” The redundancy makes us cringe. ;-) Also don’t try to
cover every possible genre in your description. I got a query a
couple months ago that left me uncertain whether the book was fiction
or non-fiction. Not a good thing. Keep it simple, concise, and
accurate.

Avoidable
#5 – Not Reading the Guidelines

My
last point is this—each publisher has very specific submissions
guidelines, both in the kind of books they want and how you can send
them. Read them. If they say to send a query first, don’t attach
anything. If they ask for a proposal, send the correct elements—don’t
assume you know better what they want to see than they do. Pay
attention to the particular things they’re looking for, and in what
format they should be. I, for instance, growl when an attachment is a
docx. I have to save them, let my computer reformat them, then hunt
down the folder and open them. In the two minutes that process takes,
I could have opened up a regular doc file, read the first two pages,
and made a decision about whether I wanted to read more or not.

So
there you have your 5 simple steps to avoid getting deleted. Now, as
for how to get a request . . . that’s another post. ;-) Have
questions? I’m happy to answer them here or to dedicate a future
post to them!

According to a wiki article on the longest books, War and Peace checks in between 560,000 and 587,000 words, depending on the translation. Keeping in mind that books back then were often printed in volumes, LOL.

I loved this post! I am nowhere near a query (I just gave up on the book I'd been working on for years, realizing that 'for years' at 14.... let's just say I was horrified when I reread it :P), but it was helpful (and humorous) nonetheless :) A problem I've always had is determining the exact genre of a book.

It can sometimes be tricky, yes, but is usually determined by the main force of the book combined with the target audience. I did a two-part guest post on this a while back: http://goteenwriters.blogspot.com/2010/07/what-am-i-writing-anyway-part-i.html and http://goteenwriters.blogspot.com/2010/07/what-am-i-writing-anyway-part-ii.html

And I'm happy to help you figure that out if you're still not totally sure. =)

Those were super helpful :) I'm almost sure the plot-line I'm fiddling with currently is Historical Romance.... but I don't quite know if it fits under Suspense also, or not. The main character's a thief (Suspense? or just intense? :P), it's set in the fifties (is that no longer Historical?), and there's a love story that's plot-necessary (Romance - if it wasn't, I doubt I'd be writing it lol). Wow - more confuddling on here than in my head!

Lydia, while we writers tend to insist on things being called "Historical Romantic Suspense" if they have strong suspense elements, the marketplace doesn't recognize that as a genre, so you're right that yours would be simply Historical Romance. Fifties is kinda iffy on the definition of historical, but I think these days it's safe to include it. =)

I think those people mean in terms of audience... For me, that just makes me not want to read the book, when it says on the flap it's better than something I *love* especially when I read it and it isn't as good as the flap promises! Annoying marketing ploy. Now I don't mind when *authors* like I recommend books, just please don't say you're the next Rowling/Meyer/Collins!

I can't BELIEVE people would mess up that bad :O I haven't written anything to editors yet, but... well this is just my personality- I would make sure that I wrote it correctly, hyperventilate for 5 minutes, re-read what I wrote, save it as a draft just in case I got so drastic as to delete it in a moment of weakness, then proof read, then pray, THEN send it. Thank you so much for this list. I wasn't aware that the publishing houses actually had written specifications on email preferences! I'll make sure to re-read this before I send anything to editors. Thank you again!

My method was rather similar to yours, LOL. I still tend to go through four drafts of an email before I send it to my agent or editor. ;-)

But yes, most any publishing house that accepts unsolicited queries (i.e., not through an agent and requested from a conference) will have specific submissions guidelines, on everything from how many pages things can be to how to space them. Helpful . . . except that they're all different, LOL.

I can definitely see how being presumptuous would turn off a publisher. And not just publishers - it would turn off anyone! It sounds just plain rude. The way I see it, if you're submitting to a publisher or an agent, the last thing you should be is rude or presumptuous. Because, yes, it's your book, but you don't get to call all of the shots. When it comes to submissions, the publishers hold the power. I can't imagine writing a query letter like that.

Thank you so much for the tips, Ms. White! I'm not nearly ready to start querying yet, but I'll bookmark this post for when I am ready. :)

You have a perfect attitude for this, Taylor! There are many people who don't, in fact, understand that "calling the shots" thing, LOL. Having been on both the submitting and receiving ends, I can promise that humility combined with excitement go a long way. =)

This opened my eyes LOL. Now I'm kind of glad for my overly-cautious personality, I'm constantly worried that I'll sound to pushy when I send emails to people asking questions or requesting information.

Thanks for writing this post! I think this has helped me for future publishing... :) haha.

Thank you, Roseanna for this post! They will definitely help me in the future. I don't really have an issue with thinking that my book is going to be the next "so-and-so". I have more of an issue of thinking that it will never be as good as "so-and-so".